Adrian College volleyball team defeats Albion for first MIAA win

Wednesday

Sep 19, 2012 at 2:15 PM

By Jay NicolsDaily Telegram Special Writer

ADRIAN — The Adrian College volleyball team welcomed Albion College to the Merillat Sport and Fitness Center on Tuesday for a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association conference match. Adrian notched its first conference win in three sets, 25-18, 25-11, 25-20.

“It was nice to see our team get a win tonight,” said Adrian first-year coach David Kwan. “We really needed it. We are working hard out their every single day and every single practice, and we are not seeing the result. That’s a result of a young team coming together with a new coaching staff, a new philosophy and a new culture. It’s going to take a while. It has taken four weeks and hopefully we can take this into Kalamazoo this weekend.”

Adrian (5-9, 1-4 MIAA) took a 10-2 lead in the first set behind Kristy DeClercq’s six assists, five digs and Emily Ribant’s six digs. Albion got within three points at 16-13 and 21-18, but would never get closer as the Bulldogs took the last four points to win the first set 25-18. Linnea Berriman and Jordan Brisson each had three kills in the set.

In the second set, it was more of the same for the Bulldogs as they jumped out to a 9-2 start before closing out the game 25-11. Danielle Bogedin had four kills for Adrian, while DeClercq added seven assists and Ribant contributed four digs. Berriman added three kills for the Bulldogs in the second set win.

In the third set, Albion (1-9, 0-4) got on the board first with a 2-0 start, but Adrian scored five straight points to take a 5-2 lead. Albion would keep it close, though, taking the lead at 15-14. Adrian responded with four straight points and took an 18-15 lead, one they would keep, finishing the set off with a 25-20 win.

“We had some players finally play to their potential,” said Kwan. “Linnea has been having some great weeks in practice and even in the games. We were not seeing wins on every end, but Linnea has been significantly improving and she is hitting a really high average for us.

“Daniel Bogedin also played a great game. I kind of called her out after the first set, she wasn’t particularly performing really well, but she stepped it up in set two and set three, and I believe she ended up hitting over .200, which is kind of nice. Kristy is a captain, and she is going to be a great leader for us. She was tonight. She was pretty consistent.”

Adrian’s Berriman finished the match with nine kills, DeClercq had 19 assists and five digs, while Bogedin added eight kills and four digs.

The Bulldogs finished with four blocks and a .264 team attack percentage.

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